(Mike McGinn answering a question about working with city councilmembers if he’s elected mayor)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

When the final weekend of a campaign rolls around, a major candidate is often seen in just a few ways – a TV ad, a mailer blitz, shouting amplified exhortations to supporters at one or two last big rallies.

Emblematic of the way Seattle mayoral candidate Mike McGinn has run his campaign, with just a few days to go, he was in the basement of the West Seattle (Admiral) Branch Library on Saturday morning, speaking softly and casually with about a dozen people. We published a quick update on this as it happened, but now, for those who missed it and are still making up their minds, here are the details of what he said, and what he was asked.

Though he’s probably done it hundreds of times by now, he opened by recapping his background and bio. (If you still haven’t heard it, you can read it on his website.) He’d spent years involved in his neighborhood, McGinn said, so getting into the race “was a big step up.” He quoted a West Seattle supporter, Pigeon Point-based neighborhood activist Pete Spalding – who was in attendance – as saying that if you’re going to complain about what’s going on in your neighborhood, you’d better be ready to do something about it.

One subject about which he is clearly passionate, though the mayor’s scope of influence is limited, is the public school system.

“Even though we don’t run the school district – maybe we ought to,” he said. “I’ve put that on the table.” He also observed that in New York, where the school district is a branch of city government, the schools are a major topic in the current mayoral race, because there’s “direct accountability … (while) we don’t know who to hold accountable (in Seattle) right now when things don’t go right. Sure, (someone will say) the legislature’s not giving (schools) enough money, which is true, so which legislator do we vote out? Direct accountability can make a direct difference in the debate. Everyone agrees schools are important but we’re having a mayor’s race in which we are barely talking about it … my opponent says no, we should be talking about plowing our streets before we talk about schools. We need to talk about governance – the public cares about it, elected officials care about it. The fact it’s the highest priority in the New York City mayor’s race tells you how changing governance can have an effect.”

But without a change in governance, how would McGinn work with the district to try to effect change? he was asked. The city has some leverage, he replied – the Families and Education Levy, youth jobs program, advocacy in Olympia, for starters.

Another government service for which the city is not directly responsible, transit, drew his criticism as well, as he declared the bus system a “regional failure” and said it’s wrong to allow sizable cuts in bus service.

Also on the topic of transportation, he brought up the thorny topic of his decision not to fight the tunnel that’s planned to replace the Central Waterfront section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct: “I do think it’s a bad choice … too expensive, doesn’t serve traffic needs … but it’s a city policy and a legislature policy to move ahead with it right now. The mayor doesn’t get to pick which City Council actions to follow. (But) I’m still going to raise the tough questions, still going to be a skeptic, while working within the democratic process to see where it takes us. Democracy isn’t just about the candidate speaking to the public, it’s about the public speaking to the candidate and hearing people’s concerns.”

To that point, Marty Westerman asked, “Can you do an end run around the tunnel? Move faster on surface improvements, transit, make it irrelevant?”

McGinn tried to say “no” gently — “We need to move faster on public transit anyway – RapidRide, we should do – and I’ve also committed to putting expanded light rail in front of voters within two years.” But the tunnel, you could hear between the lines, seemed a fait accompli, though, he said, “we are going to have to hear back what the cost estimates are … while we have an agreement to move forward, I don’t think the City Council wants to pay the cost overruns either.”

Would his experience as a lawyer help with that? an attendee asked. “I know something about negotiating and pushing for a cause,” McGinn insisted.

That paved the way for another person to challenge McGinn flatly: “One criticism is your lack of management experience. … Your experience with Sierra Club and community service is laudable, but in those cases, you are preaching to the choir. As the manager, the chief executive officer of the city, with a lot of people who don’t agree with you, how would you take your lack of management experience and manage a diverse group of people to keep them on track toward the same goal.”

McGinn smiled. “The Sierra Club is actually a diverse group of people – the community council, even more. … My opponent keeps saying how many people he has managed, (but) the question is more, can you achieve things in the public realm … not just working within the community you’re in, but going out to build coalitions with others. … To some degree, (city workers) are volunteers too – they’ve seen mayors come and go and they know how to hunker down and protect themselves. They don’t need to be managed, they need to be led. We’re electing a leader, not a manager.”

That mention — not by name — of opponent Joe Mallahan was the first in the meeting, more than half an hour after it began. McGinn continued, “I don’t think my opponent knows yet what he is going into when he goes into the civic arena, very different from the corporate world. We’ve had 20 town halls, 10 news conferences … 20,000 volunteer hours on the campaign, (while) my opponent has surrounded himself with consultants and contractors (and) has held one press conference. … He has not held open town halls to take questions from the public. … At the end of the day, it’s not the person with the big pot of money that wins the race, it’s the person with the most votes. Considering I’m the one who doesn’t have the most money, talking to the voters is the most important thing.”

On the flip side, he was asked, since “your opponent has (the wealthy supporters … if you are elected) how are you going to get them to talk to you?”

Dryly, McGinn shot back, “It’s a remarkable thing about elections – If I get elected, I think I’ll get a whole bunch of new friends fast. (And) there’s a difference between working with the business community and having them come in and take over your campaign … I think it’ll be an advantage to the city to have someone whose election was not dependent on the power brokers.”

What about the not-so-big members of the business community? asked Patti Mullen, CEO of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, inquiring about what McGinn would do to support the small-business sector.

More than suggesting incentives, his reply focused on clearing away perceived roadblocks. “What I hear most is that issues around permitting and working with city government are frustrating, having to go to multiple places to get answers …” He cited the example of Portland’s street-food community: “They make it easier for people to license street-food vendors, who provide healthy food, a vibrant street culture – and they’re a type of business with a low barrier to entry” (financially). And, he said, “we could help people who may not understand how to work the system, to get it.”

Before he wrapped up the meeting at just short of an hour, he was asked to look ahead four years, to the theoretical end of a first Mayor McGinn term: What accomplishments would he hope to be able to say he was proudest of?

“I’d hope to be able to say there’s a higher degree of collaboration between the city, school district, and other agencies … more people choosing public schools … I would like to be able to say that even though times are tough, we kept a focus on providing services and resources to those in need … That we have a transit system that’s stronger … buses are more frequent, more reliable … that we’ve made a commitment to expand the light-rail network, and started building out a fiber-optic neighborhood to connect the city.